While campaigning during the election of 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt spoke before the Convention of the the National Progressive Party:
"Our fight is a fundamental fight against both of the old corrupt party machines, for both are under the dominion of the plunder league of the professional politicians who are controlled and sustained by the great beneficiaries of privilege and reaction."[1]
His words were a reflection of his long-time commitment to progressive reform and his battle against the influence of special interests, political bosses and machine politics. The cartoon shows one of his opponents, the incumbent President William Howard Taft, crashing into a solid and rock-like Roosevelt.